Shofar FTP Archive File: documents/reviews/germany-must-perish

_Time_ magazine, March 24, 1942, p. 96. (Book review.)
A Modest Proposal
Germany Must Perish! -- Theodore N. Kaufman -- Argyle Press ($1).
In 1729 the great Dean Swift made his famed "Modest Proposal" for
curing the economic ills of Ireland: sell its starving children
as dressed meat. Last week U.S. book reviewers were in receipt of
a modern modest proposal. No less grisly than the Dean's, it was
not even supposed to be ironic.
The grisliness preceded the proposal. One day reviewers unwrapped
a small, oblong parcel, found inside a miniature black cardboard
coffin with a hinged lid. In it was a card reading, "Read GERMANY
MUST PERISH! Tomorrow you will receive your copy." There was no
identification of the sender.
_Germany Must Perish!_ proved to be a brief (104-page)
enshrinement of a single sensational idea. Since Germans are the
perennial disturbers of the world's peace, says the book, they
must be dealt with like any homicidal criminals. But it is
unnecessary to put the whole German nation to the sword. It is
more humane to sterile them. "The army groups, as organized
units, would be the easiest and quickest to deal with. Taking
20,000 surgeons as an arbitrary number and on the assumption that
each will perform a minimum of 25 operations daily, it would take
no more than one month, at the maximum, to complete their
sterilization.... The balance of the male civilian population of
Germany would be treated within three months. Inasmuch as
sterilization of women needs somewhat more time, it may be
computed that the entire female population of Germany would be
sterilized within a period of three years of less." The normal
yearly death rate is two percent. Thus, "in the span of two
generations" there would be no Germans left.
Startled readers wondered whether the strange book was a landmark,
the first appearance of the Streicher mind in the U.S. Few
recognized the name of the author, Theodore N. Kaufman. But in
1939 it had appeared as chairman of the American Federation of
Peace, which urged Congress either 1) to keep the U.S. out of
Europe's wars, or 2) to sterilize all Americans so that their
children might not become homicidal monsters. In step with the
times, Sterilizer Kaufman had simply transferred his basic idea to
the enemy.
No Nazi, Theodore Newman Kaufman, 31, is a Manhattan-born Jew who
has been an advertising man, once published the _New Jersey Legal
Record_, now runs a successful theatre ticket agency in Newark,
N.J. Widely traveled, he is especially fond of the Sahara Desert,
where, he says, "you look at the horizon all day long and feel
that you are staring at eternity." In Biskra he frequented the
Algerian salon of Winston Churchill's cousin, Sculptress Clare
Sheridan (_Arab Interlude_). _Germany Must Perish!_ is his first
book. "Strictly a one-man job" (he claims he has no organization,
no help, no backers), it was worked on for four months. Then he
founded the Argyle Press to publish it.
The coffins were not Kaufman's first idea. He had another, but it
was so horrible he prefers not to talk about it. Western Union
refused to deliver the coffins and books; they said they were
afraid the Nazis might stop their German cable service. So Author
Kaufman used the mails, first running down to Washington to make
sure the Post Office had no objections. "I am a great believer in
our Government," he says, "and I certainly did not want to do
anything against the law." Kaufman did all the mailing himself,
lugged bundles, licked labels, cut his hands with twine.
How much all this cost him is Kaufman's secret. He did not offer
the book to a regular publisher because he did not want to be
edited, and "I would not write a book like that for any amount of
money." Financially he thinks he may break even. He feels that
"in a lesser degree, of course," he is signing away his life in
the way that the men who signed the Declaration of Independence
signed away theirs. But Sterilizer Kaufman is not afraid. He has
thought deeply about sterilizing the Germans, believes that it is
practical and easy to organize. "It would be just like
registering for social security," says he.
_Time_ magazine, April 14, 1942, p. 4. (Letter to the editor.)
"Most Noble Message"
Sirs:
_Time_ for March 24 ended brilliantly with a long review of a book
with a long review of a book with a most noble message -- that of
sterilizing the German race as a whole.
If _Time_ is suffering from a paucity of reviewing matter that it
gives such important space to the mephitic work of a man whose
whole book is evidently based on one fatuous idea, let _Time_'s
book reviewers look around for something which might contribute
more to American letters or at least be newsworthy.
Mrs. Walter Boerger
Sheboygan, Wis.
Theodore N. Kaufman's book, _Germany Must Perish!_, contributed
nothing to U.S. letters but it was newsworthy. _Time_ definitely
pronounced his plan "grisly." -- Ed.

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